


Sour Reunions

by valantha



Series: Pheromones [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Altered Universe, Angst, Episode: s02e05 A Hen in the Wolf House, Gen, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Queen/Worker/Drone Dynamics, except not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-10
Updated: 2014-11-13
Packaged: 2018-02-24 22:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2598008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valantha/pseuds/valantha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fitz walked towards her, secondary (and primary) arms clutched close to his body, stress pheromones boiling from him in thick fetid waves. It hurt that she was the source of his anxiety. She wanted to ‘cross off’ the person making her best friend feel this way, but she couldn’t, because it was herself.</p><p>Now with world-building notes too</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

As The Playground’s hangar doors cycled open, Simmons caught sight of Drone-Director Coulson and Queen-Agent May. She grinned broadly; she was so happy to be – well, not home exactly, but safe – back at The Playground. And it was so good to see them again, smell them again.

“Welcome home, Worker-Agent Simmons,” Director Coulson chimed, accompanied by a welcoming aroma of pride. Agent May nodded slightly – a warm welcome indeed from the taciturn Queen.

“Drone-Director Coulson!” She enthused, it had only been two weeks since their last face-to-face, but it seemed longer.

“I’m glad to have you back,” the steady drone replied.

“I’m just glad to be alive,” Simmons replied with a giggle of relief. Undercover, having to control what she said, did, and smelled like was too much for her. She couldn’t wait for a nice respite in her safe lab – for a while at least.

“If it hadn’t have been for Queen-Agent Morse, I –“ Simmons continued only to be interrupted by the tall, stunning Queen.

“Bobbi,” she corrected, her scent one of maternal amusement.

“Bobbi, right…” It didn’t seem right to refer to her so familiarly, “If it hadn’t have been for Bobbi, I would never made it out. Probably be brainwashed, happy to comply to who knows what.”

She still hadn’t gotten over the sight of Donnie Gill being triggered right in front of her, hadn’t forgotten the helpless feeling, knowing she’d been Hydra’s tool in ‘resetting’ the poor, young Worker. Still, humor was one of her coping strategies.

As was utterly arse-over-tits attempts at flirting. Simmons whispered, “She’s amazing!”

Sadly, the Queen still only smelled of distant maternal – or at best, big sisterly – amusement.

“That’s why I’ve asked her to join the team,” Director Coulson replied.

Now the Queen smelled softly of pride, which Simmons could have worked with, but she’d caught a glimpse of Fitz lurking about in a nearby lab. It’s been so long since she’d seen him, smelled him.

The whole party glanced between the two Worker-Scientists and Director Coulson eased the tension with a soft, “Go ahead.”

Of course _now_ she’d peaked the incomparable Queen’s attention.

Simmons stole one more glance of moral support from _her_ Drone before turning to the lab door. Agent May stroked her scent-gland over one of Simmons’ secondary hands in passing, for comfort, as she left. Rumors claimed that May had been completely scent-neutral since well before Bahrain, but the gesture was heartening nevertheless.

Simmons took a steadying breath, pushing all thought of the intriguing Queen who had saved her life (and free will) to the back of her mind and pushed open the lab door, securing it softly behind her in a bid for more time to gather herself. She wasn’t ready for this tête-à-tête. Then again, she might _never_ be ready for it…

Fitz walked towards her, secondary (and primary) arms clutched close to his body, stress pheromones boiling from him in thick fetid waves. It hurt that she was the source of his anxiety. She wanted to ‘cross off’ the person making her best friend feel this way, but she couldn’t, because it was herself.

Simmons summoned her courage and forced out a thin surge of reassuring pheromones, “Hi, Fitz?”

“Simmons.” He replied, voice lacking any telling intonations.

Being escorted to Hydra command by armed Drones was easier than this gut-punch. Seeing a Fitz so utterly altered, _smelling_ a Fitz so utterly changed, and knowing that he fought so hard to be the same around her, knowing that his struggle to be normal for her actually hindered his recovery…

To say that it was hard would be the understatement of the year, and she had minimized many things this past year.

“Is that really you?” he asked oddly.

She forced out a strained laugh, “Of course it is. Who else would it be?”

She wanted to make a joke about a face-double or evil twin, but Drone-Agent Triplett’s quick debrief about what the team had been up to, and Fitz’ strained behaviour made her rethink that quip.

Fitz sighed deeply and nodded sagely, secondary arms still wrapped around himself, completely unFitzy.

Simmons took a few cautious steps forward, longing to engulf him in a hug, longing to run her scent-glands all over him to truly scent how he’d been these tough few months apart, to coat him in her scent, her love, but his body language restrained her. Her explorations, her scent, her love was unwelcome here.

Controlled, she asked, “How’ve you been?”

Fitz stared at her silently, a long while before throwing his hands up and leaving in a wave of frustration, defeat, and hurt.

Simmons nodded tightly to herself, keeping a tight leash on her tear-ducts and pheromone glands until she reached the stagnant air and dust-covered bed of her long vacant quarters.

No, she certainly wasn’t home. Home was Fitz. Home was Fitz’ base smell of Dithiothreitol, tea, and woodsmoke. Her Fitz, not this foul-smelling stranger who’d reek of hurt and anger if she treated him any differently, or frustration and hurt if she didn’t. She’d tried accepting him as he was, she’d tried helping him recover, but her mere presence put this burden of expectation on him and sent his cortisol levels sky-rocketing.

That’s why she’d accepted Director Coulson’s mission. That’s why she was homeless.


	2. World Building Notes

This AU is based off of a “what-if”: what if humans had evolved from a more hive-like, insect-like hominid? Based off of this premise, and a Bio-112 knowledge of bee/ant behavior, I worked out the stages of human social evolution and how that would have impacted the social environment and informs the behavior of our favorite team of SHIELD agents.

* * *

**The Biology of Queen/Worker/Drone Dynamics**

This unusual hominid with insect-like characteristics possesses three different castes: the male Drones, the female Queens, and non-reproductive Workers of both male and female varieties.

Drones are biologically more aggressive and have only one set of arms, broad shoulders, and other testosterone-defined secondary sex characteristics. Of the three castes, they produce the least amount of pheromones and are least sensitive to the pheromones of others, being in general more hormonal creatures. Their primary pheromone producing glands are located under the primary arms (in the arm pits) and the lower back. Their primary pheromone receptors are located in their sinuses, with only very rudimentary scent-receptors under the tongue and on the surface of the neck.

Workers have secondary arms (attaching mid-torso, around T8). Both their primary pheromone producing and receiving organs are located in these arms. Workers have incredibly sensitive palms on their secondary arms – with more receptors per square inch than even the tongue. Additional receptors are located in the sinuses. Their primary pheromone glands are located on the wrists, with additional glands under each of their four arms. Workers are the most sensitive to the pheromones of others around them. They are also the most populous caste.

Queens have three sets of arms: the primary arms at T3 (like the Drones, and us), the secondary arms at T8 (like Workers), and the tertiary arms, a set of almost vestigial arms at L2 (right above the hips). As with Workers, the Queens’ secondary arms contain pheromone glands and pheromone receptors, and as with Drones pheromone glands are located in the armpits and receptors are located in the nose. Almost the entire surface of the Queens’ tertiary arms could be considered a pheromone gland. These arms are only used during courtship and mating – to induce and regulate a sustained mating-rut in her chosen Drone – and during pregnancy and birth – to bond and prepare Nurse-workers and imprint infants upon their hive. As such, they are very private (almost taboo) organs. Even excluding these organs, Queens produce the most pheromones – both the most different classes of pheromones and the most compelling pheromones.

There are many different types of pheromones that can trigger different behaviors and can even induce physiological changes.

Breeding Queens release very potent and far-traveling pheromones that attract swarms of Drones while repelling other Queens. Various courtship activities (Drones battling, courtship gifts etc.) trigger the positive-feedback loop of mating pheromone production in the watching Queen. Once the fittest (for various societally defined definitions of fit) Drone has been selected, a simple touch of one of her pheromone-laden secondary or tertiary arms induces a mating rut. The mating rut can be sustained for several hours to a couple days. The Queen controls the duration of the rut by using her tertiary arms to grip the lower back of the Drone, and as long as this skin-to-skin contact is maintained, he will continue to rut. Both the Queen’s closest Workers and the Drone’s Workers will feed and care for them through out the rut.

During the rather short gestation time (5 ½ months instead of 9) a few of the Queen’s closest Workers will be physiologically changed to be able to better feed and care for the new arrivals. These new Nurse-workers develop slightly larger breasts and milk ducts. Their pheromone complement changes as well. The exact nature of these pheromone changes is unknown.

After gestation, the Queen gives birth to 2-6 infants, 90-99.5% of these infants are Workers.  In times of plenty, broods with infant Drones and Queens are more common. The new Nurse-workers would care for the infants, and the Queen’s body would prepare for another round of courting and mating.

* * *

**Sociocultural History of Queen/Worker/Drone Dynamics**

In early pre-agricultural times, fertile Queens would gather a hive of ten to a hundred Workers around them – depending on the strength of their pheromones and environment. Drones (with their dyad or triad of Workers) would physically battle (think Mongolian wrestling) for access to a breeding Queen. The fittest Drone would then court the Queen with gifts of food before being allowed to mate with her.

After the Agricultural Revolution to the Iron Age, hive farms and strongholds were passed down from mother-Queen to daughter-Queen and economic struggles for access to Queens between Drones became more common than physical battles (though Drones did maintain – and sometimes use – their martial tenancies). Prosperous hives generally contained 100 to 500 Workers and infanticide of secondary Queen daughters and Drone sons was sometimes practiced.

World religions taught that only Worker-Queen, Worker-Worker, and Worker-Drone relationships could truly express true love or _agape_ (many religions taught that Worker-Queen relationships was the closest one could get to God’s love on earth). Any sort of Queen-Drone relationship beyond _Eros_ and/or reproductive preference was thought to be unnatural. Queen-Queen relationships beyond that of mother and daughter were similarly unnatural. Drones could have war-forged friendships, but anything else was strictly wrong.

As Mercantilism and the Industrial age changed the economic climate, smaller and smaller hives became the norm and infanticide became taboo. The caste-ratios leveled out to 15 Queens to 80 Workers to 5 Drones. Drones courted Queens with gifts of jewelry, flowers, and exotic foodstuffs and maintaining contact or even adopting their children once weaned became common. However, sexual mores about “normal” families continued to be dictated by Iron Age values. Family units of 2-10 Workers clustered around a Queen or Drone were de rigueur. Solitary Queens or Workers were considered ‘broken’.

Queens were considered natural leaders – and those such as Queen Elizabeth who could maintain a huge hive while managing form large standing armies by playing many Drones off of one another were well respected – but a Queen’s place was at the head the hive or country, not on the streets, in the factories, or on the front lines. Workers were the large, silent majority, any many ways free from expectations and limits. Drones could have martial power, but had limited influence elsewhere.

The 1940’s with its many advancements in science – chemistry especially – led to social upheaval. Artificial Nurse-pheromones meant that dyads or triads of Workers with adopted children became much more frequent, eventually overtaking “traditional” Queen-led households.  Additionally, scent-suppressants and pheromone-blockers released many of the limiting expectations upon Queens. They could walk down the street or work in a factory without upsetting or distracting others. As a direct result, the societal caste trinity became far less rigid. Queens like Peggy Carter and Maria Hill were able to make their way to the front lines if they so chose. Drones like Howard and Tony Stark could take research and support positions without being looked down upon.

A casteless society has not yet been reached but caste matters less than it had a generation or two ago.

* * *

**Character Analysis**

Melinda May is an unusual Queen in both her combat-readiness and her isolation. Part of this was by choice, part due to Bahrain. Even as a youngster (being raised by an unusually small hive of just one Worker and her mother) she was interested in hand-to-hand combat. Her skills and ambitions easily overcame the residues of caste-limitation and she succeeded with flying colors at the SHIELD Academy. Sure there were Drones who tried to muscle her ‘back to her hive’ but she showed them. She volunteered for the pheromone neutralizers, she never strongly identified as a Queen anyways. After Bahrain she was happy she was scent-neutral, as she withdrew from the world she was glad she wasn’t taking anyone with her – no depended Workers, no children, no one to really care. Upon Coulson’s revival and having to watch over him and the team her natural Queenly protective instincts have been reawakened, and she cares more about this odd assortment of Agents than she’d thought possible after Bahrain.

One of the detriments of being a young, orphaned Queen is that even young, their pheromone secretions and hive/not-hive discrimination is quite high. Therefore, despite their still highly respected role in society, adopting out orphaned Queens is nigh impossible. Orphanages for Queens run by smell-less Workers try to fill this gap. Clearly, young Mary Sue Poots was not well served by this kind of orphanage. Her skills with computers has nothing to do with her caste, but her draw to finding out where she came from, and her love of pieces solving a puzzle, certainly could be. Skye is just about at the right age to start forming her own hive, and SHIELD, or at least her team feels more like a hive than she’s ever experienced.

Simmons came from a mid-sized, tight-knit, Queen-right hive, and was well loved, but poorly understood. She was incredibly bright youngster and with two PhDs by 17 she was fairly isolated until she was accepted into the SHIELD Academy. Even there she stood out. She was younger than all but one of the other Sci-Ops students (mostly Workers but Drones and Queens too) and many of them had already formed hives or Worker-clusters. She tried integrating into some of these hives, but she never ‘clicked’ until she met Fitz.

Fitz was adopted by a Triad of Workers and by the time he’d gotten his PhD (and Masters) two of his parents had died. He had always been a loner, and this natural tenancy was not helped by his loss. Despite the intellectual environment, he was pretty miserable at the Academy, until he met Simmons. They formed a tight, supportive Dyad. His recently realized and queer erotic feelings for Simmons, and her inability to reciprocate them has fractured their Dyad.

Coulson was raised in a Drone-led hive. Growing up he never could quite live up to his father’s Drone-like expectations – preferring comic books to football – but after his early death, young Phil really put in the effort to try to live up to his father’s and societies expectations. It wasn’t until midway through his time at the Academy that he realized there was power in subverting expectations – I blame Melinda May for at least part of this. Coulson became more at home in his own skin as a result, playing to his own strengths like team building, hiding in plain sight, and snarking. More at home in his own skin that is until he died…

Grant Ward, John Garrett, and Lance Hunter are fairly typical Drones.

Antoine Triplett, Victoria Hand, Isabelle Hartley, Jasper Sitwell, and Mike Peterson are expectation-shattering Workers. Especially considering Victoria Hand and Isabelle Hartley’s rumored non-platonic relationship. Alphonso 'Mac' Mackenzie, the Koenig’s, and Dr. Streiten are fairly typical Workers.

Bobbi Morse and Maria Hill are more martial than typical Queens, and Raina uses her Queen pheromones ruthlessly to get what she wants.

* * *

The biological and societal evolution of this culture produced a civilization with a pronounced separation of platonic or familial love and lust.

The May-Ward relationship is a good representative of orthodox Queen-Drone relationships. A purely physically relationship founded on compatible chemistry and needing to scratch an itch. The May-Coulson dynamic with mutual respect, love, and support is atypical for that of a Queen-Drone relationship, especially one without a physical component or children (that we know of).

The recent development of the May-Skye relationship is illustrative of the classic mother-Queen and daughter-Queen relationship. Conveying skills and knowledge with an underlayer of possessiveness of _her_ Drones (example the early May-Coulson-Skye dynamic).

May’s protection of and concern for the wellbeing of Fitzsimmons may be a subtle example of a Queen’s concern for her Workers. Simmons friendship with Skye – taking care of her after she was shot and her recently revealed fierce protective desires – is likewise an understated representation of this idealized Worker-Queen dynamic.

The deep caring and “almost psychic link” between Fitzsimmons in early season one is an archetypical example of a strong Worker dyad. Of course, Fitz sort of threw a wrench in the works when he realized his erotic feelings for Simmons, and subsequently told her. Worker-Worker erotic feelings certainly fall under the umbrella of queer relationships. Though slightly more accepted than Drone-Drone relations or Queen-Queen relations, and more easily closeted, it is still not heteronormative.

Now, the platonic care between Simmons and pre-Hydra Ward, is a good example of a Worker-Drone relationship. Drones protect their Workers from physical harm (even by jumping out of planes) and Workers chidingly patch up their Drones.

The Drone bonding scene in 1.10 is a good example of the limited range of this class of relationships. Without battle plans to work through, or commands to bark/obey, Drones are uncomfortable in one another’s unbuffered presence. They can try to talk about Queens, but this too can be a conversational minefield.


End file.
